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Report: NC Still Short Offering All "Sound Basic Education"
A new report finds that North Carolina has made little progress complying with a 22-year-old state Supreme Court decision declaring every child should have the opportunity for a sound basic education.
A trial court judge last year ordered an outside consultant to generate the report, which also suggests compliance could cost billions of dollars covering several years.
The 300-page report focuses on eight areas for improvement, including a revision of the state's school funding model and directives to provide "qualified and well-prepared" staff and principals in every school. The study also recommends a special panel be created to monitor compliance going forward.
Lt. Gov. Forest Provides Teacher Pay Counterpoint In Letter
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest has offered his own explanation to counter Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's recent letter to North Carolina public school teachers about the lack of significant pay raises this year.
Forest sent by email a letter to all North Carolina teachers late last week, a day after the date on Cooper's letter. Forest highlighted teacher pay and K-12 spending over the past several years and blamed Cooper for blocking more with his veto of the budget.
The competing letters are getting added attention because Forest wants to unseat Cooper in the 2020 elections.
NC Plant Turns Poultry Waste Into Electricity
Duke Energy and other utilities are investing in more home-grown energy sources. This new addition will come from poultry waste.
Duke Energy and a consortium of other utilities are securing what's called poultry waste renewable energy certificates, or RECs, from a $32 million plant in Pitt county.
The Carolina Poultry Power facility opened recently in Farmville. It collects poultry litter from dozens of nearby farms. The waste is dried to create a boiler fuel, which then creates steam and electricity.
Plant officials say the project will help create jobs and divert pollution from waterways.
UNC Faculty: Leaders Must Condemn Confederate Statue Deal
Faculty members at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill are condemning the state university system for agreeing to a legal settlement that would give a Confederate monument and $2.5 million dollars to a Confederate heritage group.
Faculty asked interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and provost Bob Blouin on Monday to denounce the payment and to get answers from the system's Board of Governors. The board agreed to give the Sons of Confederate Veterans the money and the statue known as Silent Sam.
Faculty members say they're angry about the decision and that they weren't included in the process.
Winter Weather Impacts Travel Across Western North Carolina
Roadways in western North Carolina have been closed because of a threat of winter weather, officials said.
Parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway and U.S. Highway 441 between Tennessee and North Carolina have closed ahead of expected ice, freezing rain and snow in the region, The Charlotte Observer reported on Tuesday.
Officials closed U.S. 441, which runs through the Great Smoky Mountains between Gatlinburg and Cherokee at 2 p.m. Tuesday. It's expected to reopen by 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Blue Ridge Parkway between the Great Smoky Mountains and Asheville is also closed, according to the National Park Service.
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